Bakersfield Observed: The Valley of Hope gala honors Rick Kreiser, Dr. Jasleen Duggal celebrates a birthday in style, and Via Arte wraps up its 21st annual event at The Marketplace

Sunday, October 20, 2019

The Valley of Hope gala honors Rick Kreiser, Dr. Jasleen Duggal celebrates a birthday in style, and Via Arte wraps up its 21st annual event at The Marketplace

Welcome to Bakersfield Observed. Our mission is to celebrate life in Kern County by focusing on newsmakers and events and the local characters who make this community such a special place. The views expressed here are strictly my own and do not reflect the views of any other individual, organization or company.

* ... VALLEY OF HOPE: Congratulations to Adventist Health and its Valley of Hope weekend gala

that benefited the Valley of Hope Children's Foundation. More than 350 people gathered for the gala, which honored Rick Kreiser as one of his award recipients. Owner of Carney's Business Solutions and a man deeply involved in our community, Kreiser lost both his wife and one of his sons to cancer.

* ... BLUE GOLD SCRIMMAGE: Make sure you check out Tuesday's annual Blue/Gold scrimmage out at the Icardo Center at CSUB when both the men's and women's basketball teams will kick off the season with a nite of dunks and high flying acrobatics. The 7 p.m event is free to the public and doors open at 6:50 p.m.

* ... FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Check out this post from my friend Lily Crommett-Marsh. Read it and weep: "So San Luis Obispo, population 6, (actually 47,000, with airports in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara) now has non stop flights to: LAS VEGAS ($99.00 one way- not entirely heinous), Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Seattle. Flights to SAN DIEGO and PORTLAND will begin next year. And Kern, population 839,631, has next to nothing. What is going on. I know the airlines will go to the most lucrative markets, but what the heck are we doing wrong?????"

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Dear parents with teenagers: The bottle of vodka in your liquor cabinet is water."

* ... BIRTHDAY: Dr. Jasleen Duggal, an endocrinologist from Bakersfield, celebrated her 40th birthday in style at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas with a few hundred friends and family. Duggal, known as 'Jazzy' to her friends, is married to local cardiologist Dr. Jeet Singh.

* ... HOMELESS: Here is a random shot of one of our homeless using the public right of way as her own personal toilet. The caption read: "Off Highway 178 on Mt Vernon, panhandler taking a dump on the overpass where all can see him, as well as small kids."

* ... VIA ARTE: The annual chalk art festival called Via Arte wrapped up this weekend, another successful venture by the Bakersfield Museum of Art held at The Marketplace on Ming Avenue. It was the 21st year of Via Arte. (photos courtesy of Jeanine Kraybill)